No. 2 W. Hockey Starts Playoffs Against St. Lawrence

The long and winding road to the American Women's College Hockey Alliance national championship--which actually leads across the river to Northeastern's Matthews Arena--begins tomorrow for the No. 2 Harvard women's hockey team.

The Crimson (20-4-3, 17-4-3 ECAC) has the No. 2 seed in the ECAC Tournament and will host No. 7 seed St. Lawrence (18-14-1, 11-12-1) in tomorrow's quarterfinal match-up at 2 p.m. at Bright Hockey Center.

Harvard, which began the season favored to win the conference championship for the second year in a row, finished the regular season in second place behind No. 1 Brown (21-3-3, 19-2-3).

But the Crimson enters the playoffs on a six-game winning streak, its longest of the season, which includes a 2-1 victory over the Bears in Providence. And Harvard hopes it will continue to improve on the ice during the mad month of March.

"This is where our season really begins," said freshman defenseman Jamie Hagerman (4 goals, 11 assists). "We're not really focusing on St. Lawrence, we're just trying to recognize that this is the first round of the ECACs and it's time to start playing Harvard hockey."

St. Lawrence is one of four teams that has beaten Harvard this season. The Saints doubled up on the Crimson, 4-2, back on Nov. 27. However, Harvard made the Thanksgiving weekend trip to Cornell and St. Lawrence without junior winger Tammy Shewchuk (32 g, 38 a) and sohomore center Jen Botterill (28 g, 30 a), who were in Montreal playing for the Canadian National Team in the Three Nations Cup.

Shewchuk and Botterill are two of the top three scorers in the ECAC, even though they both missed four games for the Three Nations Cup.

"When we're all healthy and everyone is in uniform, I don't think there is any team in the country that can beat us," said Shewchuk, who leads the conference with a scoring clip of 3.04 points per game. "We know that other teams play that much harder once the playoffs start, but we are not going to change our approach against St. Lawrence."

The Saints, who enjoyed a brief stint in the national polls after upsetting Harvard, have been a much-improved team this season. St. Lawrence is led by two junior forwards in Caroline Trudeau (16 g, 16 a) and Nicole Kirnan (12 g, 18 a), who had two goals in the victory over Harvard.

But the Saints have been sparked by the youthful enthusiasm of freshmen Amanda Sargeant (15 g, 13 a), Chera Marshall (12 g, 11 a) and Shannon Smith (8 g, 14 a), all of whom are among the top 10 rookie scorers in the ECAC.

On defense, St. Lawrence relies on junior netminder Caryn Ungewitter (2.23 goals-against average), who made 44 saves against Harvard in November.

The Crimson, meanwhile, will look to continue improving in the defensive zone. Harvard has given up more than two goals nine times this season, but last weekend it blanked Princeton, 6-0, and breezed past Yale, 5-1. Tomorrow the Crimson will have to play smart defense and not leave any snipers open around the crease.

"We know that winning hockey games starts in the defensive zone and carries through to the forwards," Hagerman said. "Our forecheck really worked against Princeton, and we need to continue to be aggressive once we make sure the puck is out of our own zone."

If Harvard can get the puck into the St. Lawrence zone, its talented scorers will have plenty of chances to test Ungewitter. In addition to Shewchuk and Botterill, both sophomore defenseman Angela Ruggiero (18 g, 31 a) and junior center Angie Francisco (14 g, 35 a) are among the top six scorers in the conference. And freshman winger Kalen Ingram (10 g, 17 a) is the fifth-highest rookie scorer in the ECAC.

In order for the Crimson to continue on its long journey towards the national championship, it must be prepared to dig deep into its arsenal of offensive firepower.